The world of work in South Africa has and is still changing. These changes include the
introduction of the Employment Equity Act, Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment and
the advancement in technologies. In addition, South Africa is now a globalised country and this
means that it is faced with the challenge of keeping up with the trends of doing business and
working in line with other globalised countries. The effect of tllis in the teaching environment
may be linked to the high demands and changes placed on teachers. They have to increase the
standard of education and change old ways of teaching. With these rapid changes and demands
teachers may feel that they are not competent enough and have limited resources to achieve what
it is expected of them by the Government. Consequently, this causes a feeling of job insecurity
amongst teachers, especially when they feel that what the government is demanding of them do
not compare to the resources available.
Job insecurity has an influence on the individual as well as the organisation. On the individual's
side, it results in reduced levels of psychological well-being characterised by incidents such as
anxiety, social dysfunction, irritation and strain-related psychosomatic complaints. With regard
to the organisation, some individuals psychologically withdraw from the job or the whole
organisation when they experience a feeling of job insecurity. In addition, there is an increase in
absenteeism.
Although a feeling of job insecurity is a reality in thc South African world of work, only limited
numbers of programmes are implemented to address the problem. To overcome a feeling of job
insecurity, employees need to be resilient. When faced with challenges, stressful events and
changes individuals cope and adapt in varied ways and show varying degrees of resilience.
Furthermore, there is a lack of research on the relationship between job insecurity, general health
and resilience of teachers in South Africa.
The objective of this study was to determine whether a relationship exist between job insecurity,
general health and resilience. The cross-sectional research design was used with a survey
technique to collect data from an available random sample of teachers in the Sedibeng West
District. The measuring battery consisted of four questionnaires namely; a Job Insecurity
Questionnaire (JIQ), 28-item version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), Resilience
Scale (RS) and a Biographical Questionnaire.
A positive correlation was obtained between job insecurity and psychological distress,
suggesting that increased levels of job insecurity are associated with increased levels of
psychological distress. Negative correlations were found between job insecurity and resilience as
well as resilience and general health, suggesting that individuals who have high levels of
resilience also have low levels on job insecurity and psychological distress respectively. A
statistically significant difference was found on job insecurity with regard to cultural groups and
the employment contract of teachers.
Conclusions were drawn from the findings and recommendations were made for the Department
of Education and future research.

en

dc.description.abstract

The world of work in South Africa has and is still changing. These changes include the
introduction of the Employment Equity Act, Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment and
the advancement in technologies. In addition, South Africa is now a globalised country and this
means that it is faced with the challenge of keeping up with the trends of doing business and
working in line with other globalised countries. The effect of this in the teaching environment
may be linked to the high demands and changes placed on teachers. They have to increase the
standard of education and change old ways of teaching. With these rapid changes and demands
teachers may feel that they are not competent enough and have limited resources to achieve what
it is expected of them by the Government. Consequently, this causes a feeling of job insecurity
amongst teachers, especially when they feel that what the government is demanding of them do
not compare to the resources available.
Job insecurity has an influence on the individual as well as the organisation. On the individual's
side, it results in reduced levels of psychological well-being characterised by incidents such as
anxiety, social dysfunction, irritation and strain-related psychosomatic complaints. With regard
to the organisation, some individuals psychologically withdraw from the job or the whole
organisation when they experience a feeling of job insecurity. In addition, there is an increase in
absenteeism.
Although a feeling of job insecurity is a reality in the South African world of work, only limited
numbers of programmes are implemented to address the problem. To overcome a feeling of job
insecurity, employees need to be resilient. When faced with challenges, stressful events and
changes individuals cope and adapt in varied ways and show varying degrees of resilience.
Furthermore, there is a lack of research on the relationship between job insecurity, general health
and resilience of teachers in South Africa.
The objective of this study was to determine whether a relationship exist between job insecurity,
general health and resilience. The cross-sectional research design was used with a survey
technique to collect data from an available random sample of teachers in the Sedibeng West
District. The measuring battery consisted of four questionnaires namely; a Job Insecurity
Questionnaire (JIQ), 28-item version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), Resilience
Scale (RS) and a Biographical Questionnaire.
A positive correlation was obtained between job insecurity and psychological distress,
suggesting that increased levels of job insecurity are associated with increased levels of
psychological distress. Negative correlations were found between job insecurity and resilience as
well as resilience and general health, suggesting that individuals who have high levels of
resilience also have low levels on job insecurity and psychological distress respectively. A
statistically significant difference was found on job insecurity with regard to cultural groups and
the employment contract of teachers.
Conclusions were drawn from the findings and recommendations were made for the Department
of Education and future research.

dc.publisher

North-West University

en_US

dc.subject

Job insecurity

en

dc.subject

General health

en

dc.subject

Psychological well-being

en

dc.subject

Resilience

en

dc.subject

Teachers

en

dc.title

Job insecurity, general health and resilience of teachers in the Sedibeng West District / by Puleng Christinah Mofokeng.